As part of the maintenance and treatment of an infant in an incubator, the air supplied to the infant is humidified. Typically, infant incubators have built-in humidifiers through which filtered inlet air is passed. In addition, external humidifiers, which introduce filtered humidified air directly into the hood of the incubator, are available.
Various problems exist with currently available infant incubator humidifying apparatus. For incubators having built-in humidifiers, inlet air to the incubator is filtered before the air enters the circulation path which extends through the hood area in which an infant is maintained and treated. Typically, the filtered air is drawn by a fan in the circulation path and conducted into the hood through a first passage. The air leaves the hood through a second passage and is conducted back to the first passage for recirculation through the hood. A heater and a humidifier are located in the air circulation path, so that the air which is introduced into the hood has the proper temperature and humidity.
The hood of an infant incubator usually is arranged with arm ports and a door to permit access to the infant if the need arises to treat the infant or to position sensors, probes and the like on the infant. When personnel attending an infant open the hood door or place their arms through the arm ports, contaminants can be introduced from the hands of such personnel and, to a lesser extent, from the environment outside the incubator.
Many users of infant incubators have the perception that such contaminants, which become airborne and enter the air circulation path, are the origin of airborne bacteria formed in the reservoir of the humidifier as the air flow with the contaminants passes through the humidifier, whereby the infant is exposed to this bacteria. Although this perception has not been substantiated, many users who have this perception, nevertheless, do not make use of the humidifier, for example, leaving the reservoir empty. Instead, they employ external humidifiers which introduce filtered or unfiltered, humidified air directly into the hood of the incubator. If the incoming humidified air from an external humidifier is not filtered appropriately, this air can carry its own variety of airborne pathogens if the humidifier reservoir is not rigorously maintained.
Such external humidifiers have a number of shortcomings. First, they require a source of pressurized gas (oxygen, air or oxygen/air mixture) to force humidified air into the incubator hood. Second, provision must be made for passing through the hood tubing and conduits through which the humidified air is conducted into the hood. Third, the presence of such tubing and conduits can impede the maintenance and treatment of an infant within the hood. Fourth, tubing and conduits leading into the incubator hood have a propensity for a temperature drop across their lengths which can result in water vapor condensing back into a liquid state. Water in the tubing and conduits can be absorbed by linens in the incubator, thus increasing the possibility of bacteria colonization in both the tubing and conduits and the absorbent materials in the incubator. Fifth, external humidifiers generally are mounted on IV poles and the like which take up space in already crowded nurseries.